April 1, 2013 – Payment acquirer processors were required to be ready to support chip transactions in their systems

Discover has said they “will support all card authentication channels (online and offline), all cardholder verification methods (including both chip and PIN or chip and signature transactions), and all commerce channels (contact and contactless, including mobile).”

Consumers’ personal, business and financial details will be more secure and protected with EMV. In addition, the look of the card as well as the payment experience at the physical point-of-sale (POS) will change.

When issued an EMV chip card, there will be an image of a small chip on the card. While the U.S. is still transitioning to chip cards, the card will probably still contain a magnetic stripe as well.

Before starting EMV issuance, card issuers should familiarize themselves with the key dates for the U.S. move to EMV. Investing in EMV technology sooner rather than later will free them from being responsible for fraud losses.

Beyond that, as an issuer, you have many EMV implementation options and can choose what fits best into your business and best meets your needs. Some of the most basic questions to answer are:

The four major payment brands in the U.S. – American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa – have all outlined roadmaps for the U.S. move to EMV chip cards. While the roadmaps differ, they all have one mandate in common, which passed on April 1, 2013. This was the requirement for payment acquirer processors to be ready to support chip transactions in their systems. This is an important step to ensure the U.S. payment infrastructure is ready to handle new dynamic transaction data generated for every EMV chip transaction.

Retailers should familiarize themselves with the key dates for the U.S. move to EMV. An investment in EMV sooner rather than later will help merchants free themselves from being responsible for fraud losses.

Retailers have many options for EMV. New terminals will need to support contactless EMV, contact EMV, and NFC applications. Two good first steps:

The security features found in EMV chip cards (See, “What is the technology inside of EMV chip cards?”) has been proven to work in fighting fraud, as countries report reduction in card fraud resulting from counterfeit, lost and stolen cards. The UK, for example, has seen fraud drop to its lowest pointin almost ten years.

Mutual authentication is when two parties authenticate themselves in a transaction. EMV chip technology can mutually authenticate you and a payment terminal. When you pay using an EMV-enabled device, the device is instantly identified as an authentic, approved payment instrument through dynamic authentication. When used with a PIN, the chip proves that the customer is paying with his or her own card. Mutual authentication is very important to protect you from fraud.